Just in case you set off alarms!

byCaden

414 followers

Updated 10 years ago

Do You Beep Going Through Security?

Some time ago I found that I on certain occasions I would set off security alarms! I’d walk into Sainsbury, Tesco and some other stores and the security system would beep when I went in and out. At first this was embarrassing and then I got used to it.

On a couple of occasions I was stopped and had my bags checked. Another time a security guard give me an evil look as I walked into the store, setting the alarm off.

Enough Is Enough:

Then, one time I’d had enough. I called over the security guard and told him I was tired of setting off alarms and for him to check everything to find out what the cause was.

Jacket off, briefcase down, I walked through the security gate. No alarm. The security guard took my briefcase through – no alarm. I put my jacket on and walked through – the alarm when off. I emptied my pockets – a cell phone, set of keys and a couple of tissues, the guard took my keys and cell phone through – no alarm. We just looked at each other; it had to be my jacket. He walked it through and the alarm went off.

And Why Would That Be?

By this time a couple of other employees had come to see what was going on. One lady asked if the jacket was new. I said I’d had it for a few months. She asked if I still had the sales tag on it. No. We checked anyway. No sales tag.

Then, one lady asked if I’d bought the jacket in the US. Yes! She said her daughter had had the same problem. She said there was a label sewn into the seam that had caused alarms to be set off.

We checked my jacket, and lo and behold, there sewn into a seam was a label that had something flexible in it. It just looked like the labels that tells you how to clean the item. Also, written in small print was a statement saying ‘remove after purchase’ . . .

Someone went and got a pair of scissors. I cut off the label, we ran the jacket through the alarm system – no alarm.

The moral of the story:

If you purchase a jacket or something in the US, check the item for one of these labels, otherwise you might find out, like me that you are setting off alarms! If you are a Yank, intending to come over here on vacation, check to make sure any label like the one described is removed.

This sewn in label makes no sense to me. I suppose it’s to keep people from walking out with stolen goods. But for crying out loud, why don’t they make it look obvious so you do as the small print says and ‘remove after purchase’!!!